Kawembupon
** Under early construction ** Kawepon / Kawembupon / Kawemalupon 'Phonemic inventory' (with Latin orthography in parentheses) 'Consonants' * w is a velar-bilabial 'Syllable structure' ©V® C: a consonant V: a vowel R: a consonant other than a stop; i.e. one of /m n ŋ l w/ 'Allophony' *Nasals n ŋ become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to a following stop or nasal. *Semivowels w persistently become mid-low ɔ̯ after a lax vowel. *Prenasalised stops nd ŋg become non-prenasalised d g after a stop. *Non-back vowels ɛ become central ɜ after a semivowel. *Nasals n ŋ become nasals and assimilate in place of articulation to the previous phone between a stop or nasal and a stop or nasal. *Semivowels ɔ̯ assimilate in laxity to a following vowel or approximant other than l. Before a lax vowel or semivowel, w become ɔ̯. *Semivowels o̯ ɔ̯ assimilate in laxity to a following vowel or approximant other than l. Before a lax vowel or semivowel, w become ɔ̯. *Unrounded non-bilabial consonants ŋg k ... become rounded ŋgʷ kʷ ... before a rounded semivowel. *Unrounded non-bilabial consonants ŋg k ... persistently become rounded ŋgʷ kʷ ... before a rounded consonant. *ɔ̯ become o̯ before a high vowel or semivowel. *Stops p dʷ ... persistently assimilate in voice to a following stop. *Stops ŋk d ... assimilate in voice to a preceding stop or nasal. *Front vowels ɛ become central ɜ before a back semivowel. I. The Verb. Paradigmatic contrasts: #· Finite-Infinite (and participle) #· Positive-Negative #· Past-Nonpast #· Perfect-Imperfect #· Realis-Irrealis (i.e., indicative-subjunctive/optative/imperative/interrogative) #· Formal-Informal-Familiar Gender, grammatical person and number are not taken into account in the morphological paradigm. Paradigm of Verbs. Derivational forms (formal, informal and familiar non-past, positive, realis forms) Verbal: Deontic Modalities: · “must” – it is necessary we- wendemalu wendembu wenda · “should”, “ought” – it is advantageous, recommended or expected mbi- mbindemalu mbindembu mbinda · “may” – it is permissible lu- lundemalu lundembu lunda · “want” – it is desirable (for the subject) ka- kandemalu kandembu kanda Epistemic Modalities: · “evidently” – it appears to be the case pete- petendemalu petendembu petenda · “probably” – it is likely the case kali- kalindemalu kalindembu kalinda · “possibly” – it may be the case hgiki- hgikindemalu hgikindembu hgikinda Coordinative Modalities: · simple coordinative -ka demaluka dembuka ndaka · “because” ndi- -ka ndindemaluka ndindembuka ndindaka · “while”, “during” membe- -ka membendemaluka membendembuka membendaka · “in order to”, “for” tula- -ka tulandemaluka tulandembuka tulandaka · “for” (someone) wehita- -ka wehitandemaluka wehitandembuka wehitandaka Nominal: · person – one who does X -ku ndemaluku ndembuku ndaku · object – the thing which X is done to -wele ndemaluwele ndembuwele ndawele · instrument – the thing used to do X -pon ndemalupon ndembupon ndapon · time – the time at which X took place mbe- -ndo mbendemalundo mbendembundo mbendando · place – the place where X is done mbe- -mbu mbendemalumbu mbendembumbu mbendambu · purpose – the reason X was done mbe- -kekaku mbendemalukekaku mbendembukekaku mbendakekaku · abstraction – the act of X -hgeu ndemaluhgeu ndembuhgeu ndahgeu Adjectival: · agency – the quality of something that does X -keke ndemalukeke, etc. · objectivity – the quality of something that X is done to -tete ndemalutete, etc. Some Verbs: a to love he to get, acquire hgo to leave kawe to speak ka to help ke to run ki to make ko to sleep le to stand lo to want, hope for, await ma to arrive me to swim mbo to hunt na to come nde to travel, go ndo to walk o to hate pe to forget pi to dream te to think wa to happen, occur we to kneel 'II. The Noun.' Compared to the verb, nouns are very much unmarked. However, they do take clitics which refer to determination and case. Paradigmatic Contrasts of Enclitics: #· Proximal-mesioproximal-mesiodistal-distal #· Nominative-Accusative-Dative-Genitive-Vocative Paradigm of nominal enclitics Use of Gen and Dative. Modifier (Gen/Dat) precedes modified (Nom/Acc/Voc): ende.ndunda le.ndumemambe “that lagoon of the fish (i.e. which has fish)” Dist-Gen.fish MDist-Nom.lagoon membe.talmba mba.downihahgamika “the scripture of this village” Prox-Gen.village Prox-Nom.scripture Complex Noun Phrases g/dREL – ko G-REL – ne D-REL – mbe dREL and gREL are used to represent covert dative and genitive relatives. D-REL and G-REL are for overt dative and genitive relatives. The overt forms are used when further subordination happens within the relative clause. kende.warunona ende.tem mba.ndunda D.trail + G.man -> N.fish D.trail G.man N.fish --> fish which are a. on trail, b. of man ende.tem kende.warunona nda.ndunda G.man + D.trail -> N.fish G.man D.trail N.fish --> fish which are a. of man, b. on trail kende.warunona ko ende.tem nda.ndunda D.trail -> -> N.fish D.trail dREL G.man N.fish --> fish of man which are on the trail ende.tem ko kende.warunona nda.ndunda G.man -> -> N.fish G.man gREL D.trail N.fish --> fish on the trail which are of man kende.warunona mba.tem ne nda.ndunda G-> N.man -> N.fish D.trail N.man G-REL N.fish --> fish which are of { the man who is on the trail } ende.tem mba.warunona ne nda.ndunda D-> N.trail -> N.fish G.man N.trail D-REL N.fish --> fish which are on { the trail that is of the man } kende.warunona mba.tem ne kend.eliwae nda.ndunda GN.man -> D.reed N.fish D.trail N.man G-REL D.reed N.fish in the reed which are of { the man on the trail } kende.warunona mba.tem ne mb.eliwae mbe nda.ndunda D{ G-> N.man N.reed} -> N.fish D.trail N.man G-REL N.reed D-REL N.fish fish which are { in the reed which is the man on the trail } Some Nouns: akinom mountain, hill enda animal (usually mammals) eton barley eliwae reed gambam fishing pole hahgan syllabic characters hahgamika writing eliwaehgan reed scroll or book downihahgamika scripture lokawe estuary (connected by creeks or rivers to land) ndamba father ndembun fish bones ndolinoin creek (feeds a larger river) ndunda fish ndumemambe lagoon (not fed by a river, except perhaps a few creeks in the wet season) tan member of another social group talmba settlement telwe bird tem tribesman tenak river that leads to a lake tendipew river that leads only to the sea warunona trail wen ocean wendewa fish-reservoir wewa mother Simple sentences kendewendewa endetem ndendunda membu D.fsh-rs G.man N.fish swim This man’s fish (over there) swim (informal) in the fish-reservoir (over there) 'Pronouns. ' 'Adjectives.' Adjectives precede nouns and do not take any declensional forms. atipi tall aka white akandi light (opposite of dark) eng big hehe heavy iki small katondi green mandu short (length) manel bad ndelu blue nengu short (height) ngengun wide tapenga thin (outside dimension, as of a string) tapika narrow (inside dimension, as of a ravine) tenengin long tewak black tewangi dark wakata good wake light (opposite of heavy) wanu red or orange Category:Languages